The partnership will commence with the publication of a co-sponsored white paper titled, “Applying Blockchain in securitization: opportunities for reinvention” and a series of educational activities at SFIG Vegas 2017, the largest gathering of the structured finance industry, which begins today in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The goal of the partnership is to bring the structured finance and Blockchain communities together. The two organizations will collaborate on research efforts and publications, joint educational programs and online forums.

In addition to a detailed examination of how Blockchain can play a role at each stage of the securitization lifecycle, the white paper, prepared by Deloitte, outlines five distinct benefits for Blockchain in structured products:

Single, Consistent source of information – Blockchain enables a single, consistent source of information for all participants in the network.

Complete, immutable audit trail – From loan origination to primary issuance, servicing, and changes in ownership in the secondary market, Blockchain can create a chronological and immutable audit trail of all transactions.

Better valuation and price discovery – The transparency facilitated by Blockchain technology could reduce the information asymmetry and network disadvantages that some entities, especially smaller ones, currently face in the securitization industry.

Speed and certainty – Blockchain technology, through its disintermediation and simultaneous recording of information across the system, can virtually eliminate time lags in information and payment flows throughout the securitization process, including in the secondary market.

Security – Blockchain’s capacity to increase the security of transactions and data, and mitigate fraud could be appealing to the securitization industry, where integrity of data is paramount.

“I am pleased to announce this strategic initiative with the Chamber of Digital Commerce, which has established an important position in representing the growing Blockchain industry,” said Richard Johns, SFIG Executive Director. “Partnering with the Chamber is a key part of our focus on being a central resource of forward looking education to all market participants. With this partnership we can create new, forward-thinking and educational opportunities for our members enabling them to stay fully informed of how technology is impacting their business. Today’s whitepaper is just the beginning of what we expect to be a very active and productive partnership.”

“The securitization process is an ideal candidate for the efficiencies of distributed ledger technology,” said Perianne Boring, founder and president, Chamber of Digital Commerce. “Blockchain platforms create a more transparent and secure marketplace allowing the industry to provide better products more securely at lower cost. This will also enable the market to more efficiently comply with regulations, while at the same time allowing automation to create significant efficiencies for the role of the regulator itself. Our partnership with SFIG is an opportunity to accelerate the understanding and adoption of Blockchain technology in this sector.”

Structured Finance Industry Group, Inc. (“SFIG”) is a member-based, trade industry group focused on improving and strengthening the broader structured finance and securitization market. SFIG provides an inclusive network for securitization professionals to collaborate and, as industry leaders, drive necessary changes, be an advocate for the securitization community, share best practices and innovative ideas, and educate industry members through conferences and other programs. Members of SFIG represent all sectors of the securitization market including issuers, investors, financial intermediaries, law firms, accounting firms, technology firms, rating agencies, servicers, and trustees. Further information can be found at www.sfindustry.org

The Chamber of Digital Commerce is the world’s leading trade association dedicated to promoting the understanding, acceptance and use of digital assets and Blockchain-based technologies. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Chamber is the founder of the Smart Contracts Alliance, the Blockchain Alliance, the Global Blockchain Forum and many other key industry initiatives. For more information, please visit DigitalChamber.org or follow us on Twitter: @ChamberDigital.

Founder of industry publication Blockchain News, partner at ICO services collective CryptoAsset Design Group (helped raise over $200m+), director of education company Blockchain Partners (Oracle Partner) and ICO event organiser at leading industry event CryptoFinancing (first ICO event in Europe) – Richard Kastelein is an award-winning publisher, innovation executive and entrepreneur. He sits on the advisory boards of half a dozen Blockchain startups and has written over 1200 articles on Blockchain technology and startups at Blockchain News and has also published pioneering articles on ICOs in Harvard Business Review and Venturebeat.

He is a Canadian (Dutch/Irish/English/Métis) whose writing career has ranged from the Canadian Native Press (Arctic) to the Caribbean & Europe. He’s written occasionally for Harvard Business Review, Wired, Venturebeat, The Guardian and Virgin.com and his work and ideas have been translated into Dutch, Greek, Polish, German and French.

A journalist by trade, an entrepreneur and adventurer at heart, Kastelein’s professional career has ranged from political publishing to TV technology, boatbuilding to judging startups, skippering yachts to marketing and more as he’s travelled for nearly 30 years as a Canadian expatriate living around the world.

In his 20s, he sailed around the world on small yachts and wrote a series of travel articles called, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Seas’ travelling by hitching rides on yachts (1989) in major travel and yachting publications. He currently lives in Groningen, Netherlands where he’s raising three teenage daughters with his wife and sailing partner, Wieke Beenen.

ICO Marketing

Laura Shen Forbes Podcast

Smith & Crown ICO Analysis

Refereum aims to disintermediate the game referral market with a smart contract-based bounty system for organic game promotion and achievement. This project is targeted at small-scale Twitch streamers and hobbyist gamers, who face challenges […]

Covesting is a cryptocurrency-focused trading and information platform aiming to bring a range of new tools to crypto traders and investors, including a peer-to-peer trade-following model, an advanced trading platform connected to multiple […]

GameFlip is launching a platform where digital goods purchased and earned on gaming platforms can be sold as liquid assets. A non-blockchain version is live today, and following an ICO, they plan to integrate smart contracts as payment escrow and […]

Gimmer is a blockchain-based platform for algorithmic cryptocurrency trading bots. The founders of Gimmer are looking to place the creation and deployment of automated trading systems into the hands of the broader trading population, including those […]

Solar Bankers is a renewable energy company proposing to facilitate the emergence of a p2p energy trading grid for locally produced energy, built around the company’s portfolio of solar product prototypes employing its proprietary, patented […]